"How long is this special mission going to take?" Sagepaw asked.

"I don't know," I told him.

"I bet Cloudpaw is already a warrior," Cedarpaw mumbled. "I bet his warrior name is really cool,"

"We've been gone for eight days!" I laughed.

"Yeah," he muttered. "Eight days and you still haven't told us where we are going."

"I haven't told you because I don't know where we are going," I retorted.

"How can we get there if you don't know where we are going?" Sagepaw smirked.

"It's not where we are going," I told them. "Rather, who we are trying to find."

"Who are we trying to find?" Cedarpaw asked.

"A friend." I told him.

"A friend of Jaystars?" Sagepaw asked.

"No," I shook my head. "A friend of mine,"

"But does Jaystar know who this cat is?" Cedarpaw prompted.

"He's met him." I told them. When they were chasing him away. I added silently.

"Do you know where he is?" Cedarpaw questioned.

"No," I laughed. "I just told you that I don't know where he is."

"This mission doesn't sound so fun anymore." Sagepaw muttered. I heard a branch crack to our right and out of instinct, I pulled Sagepaw and Cedarpaw closer. I sheltered them with my tail. Snarling at the where the sound had come from. A flash of ginger shot out of the bush, landing on top of me. It was another fox. But it wasn't Sawyer. Cedarpaw and Sagepaw managed to scramble away, only to be cornered by two other foxes. Still, not Sawyer.

"This is our territory!" the first fox spat. I tried to get up but he had pinned me down. All that walking and barely eating had weakened me. This tom was by far younger than me.

"Just let me and my kits leave, and we'll be on our way," I insisted.

"No way." the one on top of me growled.

"Daymon will be pleased!" One of the other ones giggled. I realised that it was a she-cat.

"Jake, come on." The last fox said. "We've had our fun, just let her go."

"I think you've gone soft." Jake, the tom on top of me laughed. The she-cat howled in laughter with him.

"Come on!" the fox hissed. "Lily, you can't possibly think that holding this mother and her kits hostage will be fun!"

"Silence!" I heard another fox snarl.

"Uh oh." The fox said. He shrunk down, he looked almost as tiny and scared as Sagepaw. "Daymon's here."

"Who's Daymon?" Cedarpaw whimpered.

"My big brother," the fox whispered to him. I could hear them from where I was, Jake still on top of me. "I don't like him. He's always picking on me."

"I'm Cedarpaw. This is my sister, Sagepaw." Cedarpaw told him. By the tone of his voice, he wasn't scared anymore.

"My name is Kai." he told him. "Jake, the one who won't let your mother go, he is also my brother." Now that the three of them were standing together, I noticed that Kai wasn't that much bigger than Sagepaw.

"What about her?" Sagpaw asked, motioning towards Lily, who had padded over and sat beside Jake.

"No." Kai shook his head. "She isn't my sister if that's what you mean. She and her sister randomly showed up one day. Her mom was friends with my dad or something. They've been with us ever since. I like her just as much as I like Daymon." he retorted.

"What's going to happen?" Sagepaw asked.

"Nothing." Kai shrugged. "Daymon, Jake and Lily are just messing around. They'll let you go," he told them. "Eventually. I think this is stupid. If you want, you can leave right now. They'll be a too busy with Daymon to notice if you two snuck away."

"What about our mother?" Cedarpaw frowned. "We can't leave her."

"Just stay nearby." Kai insisted. "Go. Daymon will just torment you. He torments me all the time. I know how bad it can get. Go. Now. Before Lily comes back over here." Cedarpaw shot me a glance. I nodded and he and Sagepaw quietly, disappeared. Kai looked at me. I saw a warm, kindness in his eyes before he looked on, as if he hadn't noticed that Sagepaw and Cedarpaw had left at all.

"What do we have here?" Daymon snickered. He had approached me, and Jake had let me up. I realised, that all of them weren't even fully grown. Back home in WindClan, they would just be new warriors, maybe even still apprentices. Just the thought made me laugh.

"What's so funny?" Lily hissed.

"The four of you, you are all still practically kits." I laughed.

"I'm almost bigger than you!" Daymon growled.

"Yes," I told him. "But I'm still bigger and I'm older."

"Wait," Jake frowned.

"What is it?" Daymon asked.

"Where did the two smaller ones go?" Lily's, Jake's and Daymon's angry glares fell upon Kai.

"They were here a moment ago," Kai said innocently. Daymon angrily walked over to him.

"You have one moment to tell me where they went."

"What are you going to do?" Kai asked.

"This," Daymon snarled. Jake moved, to get a better view. By doing so, he blocked my view. I didn't have to see to know what what happening. Kai's cries were loud enough. I closed my eyes, trying shut out Kai's squeals of pain. I wanted to help him. I wanted to get his brother to stop hurting him.

"Enough!" someone growled. Jake started to tremble, like he was afraid.

"Kai started it." Daymon blurted out.

"I did not!" Kai hissed.

"Did too!" Daymon insisted.

"Enough!" the same fox said again. "Lily, explain to me what happened." I realised that this fox, it was their father.

"Well, Jake, Daymon and me were all having fun when Kai showed up and ruined it." she pouted.

"That's not what happened!" Kai protested.

"Kai," their father said calmly. "Tell me your side of it." Kai took a deep breath.

"Jake saw another fox, it had two smaller fox cubs with it. They were just a little smaller than us. Jake wanted to mess with them, and Lily and me agreed. Jake tackled the bigger fox while me and Lily just blocked the smaller ones before they could run. they all started taking things too far, so when they weren't watching I let the two smaller ones go. When they noticed they were gone, Daymon," he said accusingly. "attacked me."

"If you let the two smaller ones go, where is the bigger one?" he asked. Jake moved out of the way silently to let his father see me. Slowly, I looked up and gasped. He was speechless. I felt like I was frozen. I wanted to call to him, but no words came out. It was then that I understood.

I understood why I didn't fight back when Jake tackled me. Why every instinct in my body screamed at me to help Kai when Daymon had tackled him. Just when I saw about to call his name, another fox appeared. She stood beside him.

"Sawyer?" she asked. "Is something wrong? I heard Kai scream," her eyes rested on me. By the bulge of her belly, I could tell that she was expecting kits.